A survey has found that only 1/10th of the uninsured have signed up for Obamacare. (The deadline is March 31.) Actual numbers from HealthCare.gov and the insurance companies are hard to come by, due in part to the still-confusing application process. Also, of those who did sign up, half have not paid the first premium, so they don’t have health insurance either.

If the uninsured don’t buy the insurance, preferring to pay the fine and to go without, the whole concept of Obamacare comes apart. [Read more…]

There is a reference book used in the medical professions and the insurance industry called the International Classification of Diseases. It gives a code for the various diagnoses. Insurance companies and the government Medicare administrators can set a price for each affliction so as to determine reimbursement rates.

The previous 9th edition had some 14,000 entries. The new 10th edition has 68,000. And they are really specific:

HealthCare.gov is now working 90% of the time, according to officials, though glitches sometimes come up. So those of you who don’t have health insurance or whose individual plans have been cancelled have until the end of the month to buy Obamacare-approved insurance on the exchange. Otherwise, you won’t be covered by January 1 and you will risk fines for the crime of being uninsured. (You have until March 31 before the penalties click in. In a system all of the parts have to work, which is hard in this case since parts of Obamacare have been postponed. It gets very confusing. Here is a helpful guide to it all.)

So now is the time to poll you readers who are most immediately affected by the Obamacare laws. I would very much like to hear from those of you who don’t currently have health insurance and who will be required to buy it, possibly with the help of government subsidies, under Obamacare. Will you do so? Or would you rather pay the fine? (The links above will show you about how much it will be.) Are you glad that Obamacare is making you get health insurance? [Read more…]

The most serious aspect of the Obamacare trainwreck, if it holds up: According to a Gallup poll, 78% of Americans who do not have health insurance say that they will NOT sign up for Obamacare. [Read more…]

Millions of Americans already have individual health insurance plans. They chose their plans based on the services and coverage they needed or didn’t need and what they could afford. But now most of those already-insured Americans–maybe as many as 75% of them–are getting cancellation notices. Their existing policies don’t have all of the mandates required by Obamacare. So the insurance companies aren’t allowed to offer them. And the new Obamacare policies are lots more expensive. [Read more…]

I thought that we could all look up what we would have to pay, but, as I should have known, it’s more complicated than that. It looks like you have to start an account and enter all kinds of information before you can even see the different plans and how much they cost.

Some of you, though, have to go through this. I’d very much like to hear from any of you who are uninsured. Can you afford these premiums? Do you find this a helpful program, or do you resent the federal government forcing you to buy a product at the cost of a big chunk of your monthly budget? Or both?